Scott Westerfeld's The Last Days (2006)
This long-awaited sequel to Peeps (2005), a modern vampire tale that has unique twis
ts on the folklore and legends of old, picks up on New York City, acquiring new voices to add to the alternating narrative. Moz and four others fall into a new band, while constantly intrigued by the captivating lyrics of their new singer, Min. The sickness, however, is rampant in the city, and has spread to many of the larger civilized areas of the world. How does this band combine with the fear of the sickeness that is driving people insane?
ts on the folklore and legends of old, picks up on New York City, acquiring new voices to add to the alternating narrative. Moz and four others fall into a new band, while constantly intrigued by the captivating lyrics of their new singer, Min. The sickness, however, is rampant in the city, and has spread to many of the larger civilized areas of the world. How does this band combine with the fear of the sickeness that is driving people insane?While Westerfeld's prose, language, and plot twists are spectacular, this sequel does not reach the same heights that Peeps was able to capture. Perhaps because of the newness and ingenuity of the first novel, introducing a new approach to the age-old tales of vampires, Peeps was fast-paced, intriguing, and hard to put down. The characters were able to take the reader along for the ride, twisting and turning with the plot as the turns got darker and deeper into the secrets of the parasite-positives. However, The Last Days seems to take a larger look at social relationships, between the peeps and those who know about what is really going on in the world. Rather than continue the Night Watch's crusade from the perspective of Cal and Lace, from the first installment, this book picks up new characters, and almost forgets about the dynamic personalities from Peeps. Alright, so I can deal with change, and sometimes it's great to see a different circle of friends interacting and playing off of one another, but...these characters, Moz and Pearl and everyone, are more concerned about getting a record contract than anything. The whole rats-peeps-cats phenomenon seems to sneak up on them, even though (spoiler) Moz and Min are positive. Truth be told, this sequel was almost a let down. When a book starts off as good as Peeps did, with a nice little hook at the end to let you know there's another installment on its way, I was pretty psyched. The Last Days, though, wasn't as electrically-charged, and stunning as the first.
Overall, it was a good read, but not up to par with Peeps. I give it ***.
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